


like how i pictured it

by crucios



Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: Giraffes, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 03:59:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17780168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crucios/pseuds/crucios
Summary: Marti watches — anxious excitement bouncing around inside his ribcage and vibrating like atoms — as Nico’s eyes roam wide over the contents of the envelope that are spilled into the space between them on the bed.





	like how i pictured it

**Author's Note:**

> Look, I don’t ever do Valentine’s fic. I don’t even believe in Valentine’s Day. But my brain demanded this be written at _four o’clock this morning_. So here we are. This is ridiculously sweet and I am not sorry.

***

Marti watches — anxious excitement bouncing around inside his ribcage and vibrating like atoms — as Nico’s eyes roam wide over the contents of the envelope that are spilled into the space between them on the bed. Nico’s fingers catch on a key-ring in a familiar shade of yellow-with-brown-spots and he unfolds the papers gently, a puzzled expression on his face that Marti finds himself labelling adorable.

“Giraffe Conservation Foundation.” Nico reads the English out loud, voice softening into something akin to buoyant curiosity with each syllable.

Marti shrugs with a loose smile. “I’m not very good at buying gifts, so—”

“Marti, what?” Nico says, cutting him off in soft exclamation as he reads the words, looks over all of the leaflets and photos. When he finally lifts his gaze to meet Marti’s, there’s awe there. Star-shine in his eyes. “You adopted a giraffe?”

Marti bubbles out a laugh, happiness permeating outwards at Nico’s surprised but thankfully rather wondrous disbelief. He feels the relief seeping into his skin in a pleased glow.

“I—yeah, I did. It’s in your name, though. On the certificate,” he says, pointing. “So technically _you_ adopted a giraffe.”

“This is…” Nico trails off, fingers tracing over his own name on the certificate as he looks over it. He’s smiling, lips crescent-shaped and achingly gentle with it. It’s an open and intimate sort of smile, the one Marti has never seen him give away to anyone else.

“Wait, you’re not going to co-parent?” Nico asks after a moment, tilting his head up in question. “I don’t think I’m responsible enough to be a single father, Marti.”

Marti has a smile reserved just for Nico too. In his head he calls it his Nico-shaped smile — because it’s only Nico who can shape it — and he can feel it playing on his lips now.

He pretends to think about his answer, then: “Okay,” he says easily.

“Okay, you’ll father my giraffe?” Nico raises his eyebrows, head moving in a little wiggle.

Marti lets out a laugh, bright and big from the centre of his chest.

“Okay, I’ll father your giraffe,” he confirms.

Nico stares at him as if suspended in time for a moment — mouth caught in a smile, teeth catching on his bottom lip — before gently setting the papers beside him in an endearingly neat pile. He pushes up on his knees and shuffles across into Marti’s space, fingers threading their way into Marti’s hair. Marti leans into his touch, leans into his body as Nico presses their foreheads together.

“I love you,” Nico murmurs through his smile, bridging the gap to kiss him, “and our giraffe-child.”

Marti feels a little giddy. “So you like it?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t?”

“I don’t know.” It’s possible — Marti now realises — that he spent far more time than necessary second-guessing this gift. “I guess part of me worried it was stupid.”

Nico tuts, rolling his eyes. “It’s not stupid. God, Marti. No one’s ever—” he stops with a slightly awed exhalation, fingers framing Marti’s face. "What the fuck did I even do to deserve you?”

Marti grins complacently in the circle of Nico’s hands. “I don’t know. But you must have done something pretty heroic in a past life to land me in this one.”

“Oh, that’s how it is?” Nico teases, a kiss pressed to the corner of Marti’s mouth.

Marti nods his confirmation and lets his hands wander across Nico’s warm skin beneath his t-shirt, fingers tracing out a map of _happy_ and _loved_.

“Yeah, that’s how it is.”

Nico just hums, mouth sliding over Marti’s like a _thank you_. Marti melts into it, lips parting, feels the soft slide of Nico’s tongue and the happy curve of Nico’s mouth. He tightens his hands on Nico’s waist, pulling at his body in askance. Nico breaks the kiss with a laugh and goes easily, slots his thighs around Marti in a v-shape as he settles into his lap. He dips down and Marti slants his head to meet him in another kiss, a little more heady and spit-slick this time. 

Nico kisses him with his whole body, thumbs smoothing down Marti’s cheeks, thighs a solid pressure around him, their chests pressed together and radiating warmth between them as if their hearts are suns in a binary star-system. Everything else just spinning around them.

Moments pass in slow, open-mouthed kisses. Seconds counted by the press of their mouths. They part, eventually. Catching breath between them. Nico takes the reprieve as an opportunity to mouth little kisses over Marti’s jaw, on the underside of his chin and down his neck. Marti feels himself smile and sigh into the sensation of it, heart aflutter and insides starting to liquify.

“What should we name them?” Nico asks against his skin.

Marti frowns, brain a little foggy. “What?”

Nico bats at his shoulder, detaching himself from Marti’s neck and glancing up with an expectant look.

Marti must take too long to react because Nico shakes his head in exaggerated exasperation and says, “Our giraffe-child, obviously. We’re dads now. Keep up, Martino.”

“Oh.” Marti grins wide. He feels so light. Content and weightless, as if he might start floating away. “I don’t know. Renato?”

Nico chuckles at that, lips ghosting back over Marti’s skin. “You know, that might just stick.”

***

**Author's Note:**

> Side-note, if you’re curious (and because I'm too lazy to write it at present so bonus content, yay?): Nico gives Marti his gift at the weekend. Well, part of his gift. He gives Marti a little something on the actual day—it’s a piano piece (because I’ll be damned if Nico doesn’t play piano for Marti on Valentine’s Day). He plays Marti the piece — Marti has never quite felt the air leave his lungs or the entire Italian language leave his brain as quickly as he does when Nico plays him piano — and after a lot of kissing they take the bus to Marti’s for dinner and a film with Mamma Rametta.
> 
> Gio lets Nico commandeer the Lake House for the weekend—because Gio is wonderful, everyone should have a Gio. His only stipulation being a joking, “You two better clean the place up after, Fares,” when he hands over the keys with a grin.
> 
> Nico — the ridiculous romantic he is — spends his Friday night setting up a trail of red string leading to various little notes and quotes. He sets the table – because he’s going to cook carbonara tomorrow night, _properly_ this time. No tabasco or honey in sight – and hangs up so many string lights that it’s probably a bit of a fire hazard. But he wants it to be perfect. Because Marti has given him so much — has been endlessly loving and patient and understanding — and Nico just wants him to know how much he loves and appreciates him, always.
> 
> (Also, you can find me on [tumblr](http://crucios.tumblr.com) if you wish.)


End file.
